Repeat Runaway Found Two Miles from Home

WILDOMAR – A Wildomar 19-year-old with diminished mental capacity who wandered away from home today, triggering a citywide search, was found a couple of miles from his residence, in good condition, authorities said.

David Alan Soto disappeared around 7:30 this morning from his family’s home in the 35000 block of Chloe Court, said Riverside County sheriff’s Lt. Zachary Hall.

Soto, a schizophrenic with a 15-year-old’s mind, left the house without his GPS tracking device, which is being repaired, Hall said.

Deputies received a ”prowler call” around 5:30 p.m. in the 21000 block of Amethyst Street — roughly 2 miles walking distance from Soto’s house — and the young man was found loitering at the location, according to Hall.

”After receiving a quick medical checkup, he was reunited with his family,” Hall said.

Soto left Elsinore High School in Lake Elsinore in November and took off into the nearby hills, where he apparently huddled for three days. A sheriff’s helicopter crew sent to aid ground-based search parties spotted evidence that he was in the area, shortly after which a search-and-rescue team found him, dehydrated and malnourished but uninjured.

A specially equipped off-road vehicle was driven up the hillside to retrieve him.

A sheriff’s official told City News Service that the agency does not seek reimbursement for the costs of searching for individuals, even when they repeatedly wander off.